Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2025 | 17(3): 26655–26668

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9433.17.3.26655-26668

#9433 | Received 21 September 2024 | Final received 13 March 2025 | Finally accepted 17 March 2025

 

 

A checklist of fishes of Haiderpur wetland, western Uttar Pradesh, India

 

Rahul Rana- 1 , Jeyaraj Antony Johnson- 2  & Syed Ainul Hussain- 3

 

1,2,3 Wildlife Institute of India, Post  Box #18, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India.

1 rahuldoon786@gmail.com, 2 jaj@wii.gov.in (corresponding author), 3 ainul.hussain@gmail.com

 

 

Editor: Pranay Punj Pankaj, Nagaland University, Lumami, India.               Date of publication: 26 March 2025 (online & print)

 

Citation: Rana-, R., J.A. Johnson- & S.A. Hussain- (2025). A checklist of fishes of Haiderpur wetland, western Uttar Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 17(3): 26655–26668. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9433.17.3.26655-26668

  

Copyright: © Rana- et al. 2025. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

 

Funding: This research was conducted as part of the projects Biodiversity Conservation and Ganga Rejuvenationand “Planning for Aquatic Species Conservation and Maintenance of Ecosystem Services in the Ganga River Basin,” which received funding (Nos.B-02/2015-16/1259/NMCG-WII PROPOSAL and B-03/2015-16/1077/NMCG-NEW PROPOSAL) from the National Mission for Clean (NMCG), Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Author details: Rahul Rana is a research scholar actively engaged in ichthyofaunal assessment of the Ganga River Basin in Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani Dehradun. J.A. Johnson is scientist-F in Wildlife Institute of India, and Syed Ainul Hussain is project manager and former Scientist-G Wildlife Institute of India.

 

Author contributions: RR surveyed the study site and collected samples, identification and JAJ and SAH supervised the work and interpreted taxonomic information

gathered by the RR.

 

Acknowledgements: The authors gratefully acknowledges the financial support from National Mission For Clean Ganga. Our sincere appreciation to Shri G.Asok Kumar, director general (DG) of NMCG, as well as Mr. Rajiv Ranjan MIshra and Mr.Upendra Prasad Singh, former DGs and their dedicated teams for their invaluable funding support. We extend our gratitude to the chief wildlife wardens of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan , Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal for their timely provision of research permits and facilitation, which were crucial for the sucessful completion of this study. We extend our gratitude to the director and dean of the Wildlife Institute of India for their assistance and cooperation in the smooth conduct of the study.

 

 

 

Abstract: River-associated floodplains and wetlands provide natural spawning and nursery grounds for many freshwater fishes. Haiderpur wetland is one of such important river-associated wetlands of the Ganga River located in Bijnor District of western Uttar Pradesh. Considering its ecological significance, an inventory of fish species inhabiting in the Haiderpur wetland was carried out between June and July 2020. A total of 57 species of fishes belonging to 44 genera, 10 orders, and 27 families were recorded. Three exotic species, namely, Hypothalmichthys molitrix, Oreochromis niloticus, and Ctenopharyngodon idella, were recorded from the wetland. Based on the fish record, a checklist of the fish species of the Haiderpur wetland is being prepared and presented herewith with updated information on the current valid names, vernacular names, and IUCN Red List status. 

 

Keywords: Exotic species, fish diversity, freshwater, floodplains, Ganga River, ichthyofauna, river associated, spawning, threatened fish, vernacular.

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Wetlands are amidst the most productive ecosystems on the Earth and provide many vital services to human society (Ghermandi et al. 2010; Brink et al. 2012). Wetlands also play a valuable role as breeding grounds for a wide variety of species of fish and other invertebrates. In any wetland, fish typically represent a significant biological part, playing a critical role in energy flow between lower and higher trophic levels and control energy and nutrient-flow via predation. It also serves as a valuable fishery resource for the local community residing around the wetlands.

In India, the Gangetic plain has many large-sized natural and man-made wetlands, which are connected with the Ganga River during the monsoon months and serve as flood buffering systems. In addition to that, they form a natural reserve for maintaining fish genetic resources. Haiderpur wetland is one of those wetlands located in the floodplain region of the Upper Ganga basin in western Uttar Pradesh. The wetland is ecologically important since it provides refugia habitats to many freshwater organisms, including fishes and is hydrologically different because of slow-moving water creates favorable conditions for many lentic organisms. This wetland is a trove in terms of fish species and supports the livelihood of many people living around the wetland. Even though it is a well-known aquatic habitat, there is no comprehensive information on the Ichthyofauna species associated with this wetland. Thus, an intensive survey was carried out from June 2020 to July 2020 to prepare the fish checklist in this wetland. A checklist of fish species residing in this wetland and their current conservation status is presented in this communication. We also provide site-specific catch per unit efforts so that this information can be used as a baseline for future fish conservation efforts in the region.

 

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

 

Study Area

Haiderpur wetland is a man-made wetland that came into existence in 1984 after the construction of Madhya Ganga barrage on the mighty Ganga River and it falls in Muzaffarnagar District and also part of Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary (HWS) of western Uttar Pradesh (Image 1). It lies in the Upper Gangetic Plains biogeographic zone (7A) of India in the state of Uttar Pradesh (Rodgers & Panwar 1988). This wetland comprises of 3,000 acres and adjoining 1,532 ha of the forest area of different blocks of Haiderpur, Nizampur, Jedhpur, Gorsiwal, Kasampur, Eashqwala, and Nawalpur. It includes various deep upstream reservoirs of Madhya Ganga Barrage, associated shallow flooded land, stretches of river Ganga and its tributary, river Solani. Six sampling locations were fixed randomly depending on the accessibility for exploring fish diversity in the wetland (Image 1). GPS coordinates of sampling sites and the mean depth of sampling points are given in Table 1.

The population composition of wetland areas comprises of Bengali fisherman community and gurjars primarily engaged in fishing for their livelihoods.

 

Fish Sampling

Our sampling sites are situated mostly in the southern part of the Wetland because of accessibility and other practical constraints. Importantly, our sites are well-distributed in the space to represent the wetland well. Fish sampling was conducted in the selected sampling points using 180 m long mono-filamentous gill nets of various mesh sizes measuring (0.5 inch, 1 inch, 2 inch, 3 inch, 4 inch, 5 inch, 10 inch and 12 inch). Cast net and trap nets were also used. An average of 4 net/hours was given continuously for 10 days from 0600 h to 0800 h, and 1600 h to 1800 h, and each site was sampled twice, once in the morning and then in the evening during the monsoon months (July 2020). Constant fishing efforts using all the six different gill nets for equal duration were maintained throughout the sampling period. Different types of fishing gears used are given in Image 2.

After the sampling, fishes were collected, and they were photographed using a digital SLR Camera -Nikon D5300. Colour, colour patterns, spots/blotches, stripes, and other characteristics of the fishes were noted in the field. Some of the unidentified fishes were preserved in a 10% formalin solution for species confirmation. All specimens were deposited in the National Repository Museum of Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. The species were identified in the laboratory using the taxonomic keys of Talwar & Jhingaran (1991), Jayaram (2010), and Bleher (2018). Valid species and valid nomenclatural names were adopted as per the Catalogue of Fishes of the California Academy of Sciences (Frickie et al. 2018). The current conservation status of fishes was accessed from IUCN Red List data (IUCN 2021). A checklist of fishes recorded in the Haiderpur wetland is presented in Table 2. Catch per unit efforts (CPUE) was calculated as the number of captured fishes per hour in all applied gill nets.

 

Results

 

The present study revealed that 57 species of fishes belonging to 44 genera, 10 orders, and 27 families inhabit in Haiderpur wetland. Cyprinidae was the most abundant family with 13 species, followed by Bagridae with five species (Images 4–60). The checklist presented in this study represents the most updated list of freshwater fishes from the Haiderpur wetland compared to the earlier studies conducted in the entire Bijnor district. Prior to this study, only the presence of 36 fishes from the Bijnor District has been reported by (Khan et al. 2013). The present study includes economically important fish species like Wallago attu, Chitala chitala, Notopterus notopterus, Bagarius bagarius. The other significant findings of the study reveal that many species like Labeo bata, Wallago attu, Notopterus notopterus, Ophicthys cuchia are of high ecological significance since it is valued remedy in oriental medicine (Ray 1988). The study, however, has also been able to detect the presence of some of the exotic species of fishes such as Cyprinus carpio, Hypothalmichthys molitrix, Ctenopharyngodon idella, and Oreochromis niloticus, which are disturbing the habitat for the native fish species by competing in terms of food, space and tolerant extreme conditions. Haiderpur wetland inhabits nearly half of the freshwater fish species reported from the main Ganga River. Recent studies revealed that main course of Ganga River inhabits 117 species of native freshwater species (Dwivedi et al. 2019).

Haiderpur wetland, like any other wetland has an almost entirely tropical climate 29o N surrounded by the human settlements. In the process of rapid urbanisation, various species are going under mass extinction from their native habitats (Mckinney 2002). Among 57 species of fishes recorded from Haiderpur wetland, only three species, namely, Chitala chitala, Ompok pabda, and Bagarius bagarius, were found to be in ‘Near Threatened’ category of IUCN Red List 2021, whereas three were exotic species, and only one species namely, Clarias magur was found to be in IUCN Red List ‘Endangered’ category and the remaining 50 fish species were in IUCN Red List ‘Least Concern’ category. Habitat degradation and anthropogenic pressure like cultivation of water chestnut and use of chemicals by farmers have seriously affected the fish fauna of the entire Haiderpur wetland. During the survey, various types of invasive weeds, e.g., Pontederia, Pistia, Hydrilla spp., and Potamogeton, have adversely affected the wetland by encroaching and disturbing the fish habitat (Image 3).

Wallago attu and Chitala chitala which thrives well and hides in the submerged aquatic vegetation and Haiderpur wetland, therefore, provides the suitable habitat. Bagarius bagarius are amongst some of the indicator species depicting the pristine habitat of the wetland serving as the breeding grounds and sustaining large fish population. On the other hand, few areas are under stress due to the effluent and sewage discharge compelling only species like Trichogaster fasciata and T. lalia surviving in those areas. For long-term monitoring and conservation of wetlands and sustaining aquatic species curbing the challenges in wetland conservation will play a key role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem for the fish population.

 

Relative Abundance

Relative abundance showed abundance of small-sized indigenous species in the study area. The most abundant species as per relative abundance was Amblypharyngodon mola having relative abundance of 0.30, followed by Puntius sophore 0.16, Trichogaster lalius 0.15, and Trichogaster fasciatus 0.13.

 

Catch per unit efforts

CPUE was observed maximum at site-6 – 114.55 and minimum at site-1 – 4.

Family wise representation (pie chart) of individual species at each site is presented in Figure 1.

 

 

Discussion

 

Haiderpur wetland is a variegated wetland of swampy vegetation and tall grasses. Floodplain wetlands are one of the most productive and species-rich lacustrine ecosystems (Kingsford et al. 2016). It also forms an important site for the conservation of water birds and swamp deer. Previous studies conducted in Banganga wetland (Sivakumar 2017), recorded presence of 40 fish species during the survey whereas Khan et al. (2013) reported presence of only 36 fish species from the entire Bijnor District. Therefore, the present study carried out in the Haiderpur wetland reveals the unexplored diversity which is a first of its kind since it has not been assessed in terms of fish diversity earlier. No previous studies have been conducted explicitly in the Haiderpur wetland.

This distinctive hydrological system and having a variety of submerged aquatic vegetation provides suitable breeding grounds and habitat for fish populations an ichthyological baseline inventory of Red Listed species of the wetland and for biodiversity conservation point of view. It also provides unreported and unexplored diversity of fish species and scope for trend analysis of the population of these fish species in the future. It is imperative that the sites, where threatened species are recorded should be monitored regularly for future. On the other hand local anthropogenic pressures like seasonal cultivation of water chestnut by locals and use of chemicals in the crops gets washed off directly into the wetland, grazing of cattle during the dry spell are other local disturbances affecting the wetland. Merging of the domestic effluents during floods directly into the wetland adds to the threats. Educational tours and tourism activities also provide revenue generation which can be utilised for more upgradation of the wetland and awareness of aquatic flora and fauna residing in the wetland.

 

Table 1. Details of fish sampling locations in Haiderpur wetland, western Uttar Pradesh.

 

Site

GPS coordinates

Mean depth (m)

Latitude (N)

Longitude (E)

1

Site 1

29.3797

78.0287

2.9

2

Site 2

29.3781

78.0299

3.4

3

Site 3

29.3723

78.0031

2.1

4

Site 4

29.3827

78.0225

1.8

5

Site 5

29.3858

78.0320

1.5

6

Site 6

29.3918

78.0190

3.2

 

Table 2. Site wise catch per unit effort values.

 

Site no.

Mean CPUE (fish/h)

1

S1

4

2

S2

15.25

3

S3

83

4

S4

14

5

S5

5.5

6

S6

114.5

 

 

Table 3. Checklist of fish species of Haiderpur wetland.

 

English name

Species

Authority

Vernacular name

IUCN Red List

I. ORDER OSTEOGLOSSIFORMES

1. Family Notopteridae

1

Bronze Featherback

Notopterus notopterus

(Pallas, 1769)

Pholi

LC

2

Clown Knifefish

Chitala chitala

(Hamilton, 1822)

Chital

NT

2.Family Clupeidae

3

Indian River Shad

Gudusia chapra

(Hamilton, 1822)

Suiya

LC

II. ORDER CYPRINIFORMES

3. Family Cobitidae

4

Guntia Loach

Lepidocephalichthys guntea

(Hamilton, 1822)

Guntea

LC

4. Family Nemacheilidae

5

Mottled Loach

Paracanthocobitis botia

(Hamilton, 1822)

Chitai

LC

5. Family Cyprinidae

6

Mrigal Carp

Cirrhinus mrigala

(Hamilton, 1822)

Mrigal

LC

7

Reba Carp

Cirrhinus reba

(Hamilton, 1822)

Rewah

LC

8

Common Carp

Cyprinus carpio

(Linnaeus, 1758)

-

Exotic

9

Bata

Labeo bata

(Hamilton, 1822)

Bhagan

LC

10

Orangefin Labeo

Labeo calbasu

(Hamilton, 1822)

Kalbons

LC

11

Kuria Labeo

Labeo gonius

(Hamilton, 1822)

Khursa

LC

12

Roho Labeo

Labeo rohita

(Hamilton, 1822)

Rohu

LC

13

-

Labeo dyocheilus

(McClleland, 1839)

Kali

LC

14

Rosy Barb

Pethia conchonius

(Hamilton, 1822)

Pothi

LC

15

Ticto Barb

Pethia ticto

(Hamilton, 1822)

Pothia

LC

16

Pool barb

Puntius sophore

(Hamilton, 1822)

Pottiah

LC

17

Stone Roller

Tariqilabeo latius

(Hamilton, 1822)

Kala bata

LC

18

 

Osteobrama cotio

(Hamilton, 1822)

Cotio

LC

6. Family Danionidae

19

Mola Carplet

Amblypharyngodon mola

(Hamilton, 1822)

Mola

LC

20

Morari

Cabdio morar

(Hamilton, 1822)

Morari

LC

21

Slender Rasbora

Rasbora daniconius

(Hamilton, 1822)

Rasbora

LC

22

Large Razorbelly Minnow

Salmostoma bacaila

(Hamilton, 1822)

Chela

LC

7. Family Xenocyprinidae

23

Grass Carp

Ctenopharyngodon idella

(Valenciennces, 1844)

Carp

Exotic

24

Silver Carp

Hypothalmichthys molitrix

(Valenciennes, 1844)

Silver

Exotic

III. ORDER SILURIFORMES

8. Family Bagridae

25

Gangetic Mystus

Mystus cavasius

(Hamilton, 1822)

Kavasi

LC

26

Tengara Catfish

Mystus tengara

(Hamilton, 1822)

Tengara

LC

27

Rita

Rita rita

(Hamilton, 1822)

Rita

LC

28

Long Whiskered Catfish

Sperata aor

(Hamilton, 1822)

-

LC

29

Giant River-Catfish

Sperata lamarrii

(Sykes, 1839)

Seenghala

LC

9. Family Siluridae

30

Pabdah Catfish

Ompok pabda

(Hamilton, 1822)

Pabda

NT

31

Wallago

Wallago attu

(Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Parhin

VU

10.Family Amblyciptidae

32

Biting Catfish

Amblyceps mangois

(Hamilton, 1822)

-

LC

11. Family Sisoridae

33

Goonch

Bagarius bagarius

(Hamilton, 1822)

Goonch

NT

12.Family Erethistidae

34

Giant Moth Catfish

Erethistes pussilus

(Muller & Troschel, 1849)

-

LC

13.Family Clariidae

35

Magur

Clarias magur

(Hamilton, 1822)

-

EN

14. Family Heteropneustidae

36

Stinging Catfish

Heteropneustes fossilis

(Bloch, 1794)

Singhi

LC

15. Family Schilbidae

37

Garua Bachcha

Clupisoma garua

(Hamilton, 1822)

Garua

LC

38

Vacha, Tunti

Eutropiichthys vacha

(Hamilton, 1822)

Bachwa

LC

IV. ORDER SYNBRANCHIFORMES

16. Family Mastacembelidae

39

Lesser Spiny Eel

Macrognathus aral

(Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Aral

LC

40

Barred Spiny Eel

Macrognathus pancalus

(Hamilton, 1822)

Baim

LC

41

Zig-zag Eel

Mastacembelus armatus

(Lacepede, 1800)

Baam

LC

17. Family Synbranchidae

42

Cuchia

Ophicthys cuchia

(Hamilton, 1822)

Kuchia

LC

V. ORDER ANABANTIFORMES

18. Family Anabantidae

43

Climbing Perch

Anabas testudineus

(Bloch, 1792)

Kawai

LC

19. Family Osphronemidae

44

Dwarf Gourami

Trichogaster lalius

(Hamilton, 1822)

Khosti

LC

45

Banded Gourami

Trichogaster fasciata

(Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Gourami

LC

20. Family Channidae

46

Dwarf Snakehead

Channa gachua

(Hamilton, 1822)

Bothua

LC

47

Great Snakehead

Channa marulius

(Hamilton, 1822)

Pumuri

LC

48

Spotted Snakehead

Channa punctata

(Bloch, 1793)

Phool-dhok

LC

49

Striped Snakehead

Channa striata

(Bloch, 1793)

Soura

LC

21. Family Nandidae

50

Gangetic Leaffish

Nandus nandus

(Hamilton, 1822)

Debari

LC

22. Family Badidae

51

Badis

Badis badis

(Hamilton, 1822)

Badis

LC

VI. ORDER GOBIFORMES

23. Family Gobiidae

52

Tank Goby

Glossogobius giuris

(Hamilton, 1822)

Tank goby

LC

VII. ORDER CICHLIFORMES

24. Family Cichlidae

53

Nile Tilapia

Oreochromis niloticus

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Tilapia

Exotic

VIII. ORDER BELONIFORMES

25. Family Belonidae

54

Freshwater Garfish

Xenentodon cancila

(Hamilton, 1822)

Kauwa

LC

IX. ORDER TETRAODONTIFORMES

26. Family Tetraodontidae

55

Ocellated Pufferfish

Leiodon cutcutia

(Hamilton, 1822)

Pufferfish

LC

X. ORDER PERCIFORMES

27. Family Ambassidae

56

Elongate Glass-perchlet

Chanda nama

(Hamilton, 1822)

Chanda

LC

57

Highfin Glassy-perchlet

Parambassis lala

(Hamilton, 1822)

Lala

LC

LC—Least Concern | EN—Endangered | VU—Vulnerable | NT—Near Threatened.

 

FOR FIGURES & IMAGES - - CLICK HERE FOR FULL PDF

 

 

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